This weekend, if you followed our news you may have participated in the last open beta weekend of Marvel Heroes, the future MMO signed by Marvel. If you missed it, here's a little technical catch-up that might make you want to play the game from June 4th. You can find our presentation of the history of the game and its general concept, because this article will only concern the technical aspects of the game, the interface, the talent trees, the craftsmanship and necessarily the shop.
Interface
MMO and Hack'n Slash players will not be disoriented, you will find great classics placed in the usual places and not customizable, at least in the beta:
- A multilingual conversation channel at the bottom left since the game is not translated and especially without options.
- A classic bar at the bottom with quick access to options (character sheet, powers et shop to the left / missions, characters available and menu on the right), spells and health and energy points.
- A map necessarily, with 2 possible options: either at the top right, or behind your character as in Diablo or other Hack'n Slash. You will find there the important points of the quests, the vendors, the teletransporters or the access doors to the instanced zones ...
- A part on the right dedicated to current quests and which also indicates to you by a large clickable button that you have experience points to allocate in your talent tree (that's a good idea).
In conclusion, a very classic and refined interface in line with what already exists with a slightly SF side (the bright blue) which gives an aspect quite close to the SWTOR interface. We can like it or not, I find it pretty damn good (but it's normal since it takes what is done best) with only one big downside but which can be annoying in the longer term, the fact not to be able to modify anything.
Character sheet and bank
The character sheet includes:
- The statistics of the superhero at the top left, divided into 3 tabs: main statistics, secondary statistics and biography of the character (Marvel History).
- The inventory at the bottom which seems quite large but can quickly fill up (it's a Diablo-like anyway, it's important to pick up lots of stuff).
- The equipment worn with 3 zones, one dedicated to the chosen costume (if you find or buy it, you just need to put the new costume in place of the old one to change the appearance of your superhero) , another with 5 classic pieces of equipment: feet, legs, belt, torso and head, and finally a last with a medal giving special bonuses and which can be found on the supervillains and 2 artifacts (but I don't have not recovered so I cannot tell you where to find them)
The Bank is in the Avengers Tower and like the inventory, it is shared by all the characters on your team which is quite limiting in the long term especially since for the moment I haven't seen anything either in game or in the shop allowing to increase the storage space of one or the other.
Talent trees
3 branches per tree:
- A branch focused on the main fate of each superhero, which you will put on the left and right buttons of your mouse (Claws and Energy Beams).
- A second branch allows you to have more special spells like shields or area spells (Ferocity gives access to more powerful spells or areas using rage and Defense Shields, for Iron Man, allows you to launch a multi shield. -functions)
- Finally, a fairly utilitarian branch that increases the regeneration of life points for Wolverine or spirit for Iron Man, or even defense (Weapon X and Tech Gadget)
We earn 2 talent points per level, talents are unlocked gradually and are also sometimes increased by pieces of equipment that give a point in such or such talent.
In the end, we stay in the classic. I haven't been able to test other superheroes so it might change a bit depending on the characters but it shouldn't be too different. However in the beta, some icons have not yet been put into play so it is still possible that this will change.
craft
In the end, the open beta weekend lags didn't allow me to see what I had hoped to see. A few avenues, however:
You will find in the Avengers Tower a merchant (Hank Pym) who allows you to transform different kinds of level 1 energy that you collect in abundance in the game into level 2 energy (3 level 1 energies are transformed into an energy of level 2).
For now, at level 1 this merchant only offers that and allows you to exchange level 1 energies for life or spirit potions. However, all merchants, and therefore including the one dedicated to crafting, can level up if you give them (yes a free donation) pieces of equipment instead of selling them. I imagine that at the next level of the merchant you get more craft choices.
3 tabs are available, one for "costumes", another for "equipment" and finally a "miscellaneous". It may therefore be possible to obtain costumes without necessarily going through the store.
Shop
There is still a tab missing from the store (hopefully this will open up options for adding space in the inventory and other game facilities) but 4 tabs allow you to get a good overview. We were promised that this one would only offer customizations and that is mainly the case. You will therefore be able to find there:
- Suit : a tab dedicated to costumes with a more or less varied choice depending on the superheroes (basically the more a hero is known, the more he appeared in the comics and therefore the more different costumes there are)
- Hero : if you want to play with a particular hero, you can do your shopping here, knowing that the most famous or the most fun are necessarily the most expensive.
- items : a boost potion shop: each lasts one hour and increases the experience gained by 50%, rare loot by 50%. The third allows you to reset your talent tree.
- The cards : the surprise shop, you buy a card it appears in your inventory and when you click on it, you can get a random item (potion, costume for a particular superhero ...). I was able to get some potions and costumes for "The Punisher" or "The Thing". So afterwards you have to be able to use them.
The in-game store also gives you access to the online store via the main tab and to the various packs that can be purchased online before and after the launch of the game.
3 packs are available at various prices:
- Un starter pack allowing you to choose your super hero among 9 available at 16 euros and some in-game bonuses and 8 euros of virtual currency equivalent.
- Un pack Prime at 50 euros offering multiple possibilities which are clearly accessible for fans. the packs are thematic, on a particular superhero, a team or a theme (the avengers, the mutans, deadpool, the Hulk ...).
- Un Ultimate pack at 160 euros giving you access to all the options of the game (all the characters, all the costumes, 45 euros of virtual currency, plenty of boosts, exclusive costumes ...).
To conclude, Marvel will offer us a Free-to-play game that is really free and honest at first glance (to see if for them the model will be viable) but a little smooth in my opinion with too little choice of customizations on the beta in any case.
Not having been able to test the story mode in depth, you will have to wait for the release of the game to know if the content is substantial and if the gameplay is pleasant in the long term, throughout the gaming experience. either in the choice of the superhero that by offering more and more difficult challenges. We can also hope that the MMO aspect will eventually offer players guild challenges, interactivity between players and why not e-sport. June 4 will already offer some answers to these questions.
If you are interested in Marvel Heroes, do not hesitate to go to their online store which is available in spanish and you will be able (or not) to your market knowing that in my opinion you will have to spend at least 16 euros to have access to a super hero of your choice and to some basic facilities on June 4 with a discovery pack.
